abacus deflate gawk grandiloquent tame

Published Jul 02, 2020 [ English ]

abacus

ab·a·cus /ˈæbəkəs/ noun [countable]

a frame with small balls that can be slide along on thick wires, used for counting and calculating.

de·flate /ˌdiːˈfleɪt, dɪ-/ verb

[intransitive and transitive] if a tyre, BALLOON etc deflates, or if you deflate it, it gets smaller because the gas inside it comes out
- In everyday British English, people usually say an object goes down rather than deflates:
  - It looks like the air bed has gone down.
[transitive] to make someone feel less important or less confident:
1. She was deflated when Fen made no comment on her achievement.
[transitive] to show that a statement, argument etc is wrong:
1. Simkin hoped to find a way to deflate his opponent’s argument.
[intransitive and transitive] technical to change economic rules or conditions in a country so that prices fall or stop rising

gawk /ɡɔːk $ ɡɒːk/ verb [intransitive]

informal to look at something for a long time, in a way that looks stupid

gawk at

gran·dil·o·quent /ɡrænˈdɪləkwənt/ adjective formal

using words that are too long and formal in order to sound important.

tame1 /teɪm/ adjective

a tame animal or bird is not wild any longer, because it has been trained to live with people
- tame elephants
informal dull and disappointing:
1. Most of the criticism has been pretty tame.
2. I decided that teaching was too tame for me.
[only before noun] British English used to describe a person who is willing to do what other people ask, even if it is slightly dishonest:
- If you have a tame doctor, he might give you a sick note.